Lions call-up would come with family benefits: Fin Smith

Fin Smith is crossing his fingers for a British and Irish Lions for all the usual reasons, plus one other – it would allow his Scottish dad to support him without any divided allegiances.

The England fly-half could not have done much more to play his way into the squad than in the performance he produced for Northampton in the Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster at the weekend. And if he makes it, he knows he will finally be able to count on the full-bore backing of his Dunfermline-born dad, Andrew.

Both Smith’s parents are Scottish – Andrew first met Judith in the London Scottish clubhouse – and are Scotland supporters so cheering their son in an England shirt has not come naturally.

“I never even thought about potentially being in contention for the Lions until just after the Six Nations when people were saying: ‘You might have a chance now’,” said Smith.

“You weirdly go from not having thought about it to being like: ‘ah, I’m going to be pretty nervous when the announcement happens’. I’m trying to prepare for the worst and if the best happens, then ‘how good.’”

“It’s definitely something that has given me a little boost to play well because that’s just around the corner.

“At least my Dad could cheer for me this time if I’m playing for the Lions!”

A call-up would continue a proud family line as his grandfather Tom Elliot – a Scotland prop who toured South Africa with the 1955 Lions. He passed away in 1998.

“We were up to see my granny not too long ago and she’s still got all of his Lions outfits,” he said.

“The blazer and the cap and stuff – I used to run around in those when I was a little lad, so it would be pretty special to have some of my stuff next to his if I did get called up. It would be awesome.”

Speaking on the ainslie + ainslie Performance People podcast, the 22-year-old has outlined three reasons why England captain Maro Itoje would make a great Lions captain.

“I think it will be him or Caelan Doris – either of them would do a great job. But if Maro got the call-up, it would be unreal and I’ve no doubt he would smash it,” Smith said.

“There’s three things about his captaincy. If he says he’s going to do something he does it, and that’s super powerful. If he says in the huddle before a game: ‘I’m going to take my body to a dark place,’ you think: ‘fair play, I’m going to jump in with this guy.

“Secondly, he invests a huge amount into personal relationships, connecting with each other, spending time with each other away from rugby and getting to know each other. If you care about the people around you, then you will probably try harder for them.

“The last bit is that he just shows so much belief in the things we are going to do. He will stand up in front of the group and say: ‘we are going to go and win well this week and this is why.’ He just shows so much belief in us.’

“If I was going to put my finger on why he has done such a good job for England so far, it would be those three things.”